Managing your time
when you don't have the time!
Have you ever wondered how some people seem to get so much more done
in a day than you do?
Do you feel like you are working longer hours than ever, yet never seem
to get to the bottom of your ‘To Do’ list?
You are not alone. The good news is that time management isn’t
rocket science. By practicing a few basic time management principles,
you can control your time instead of letting it control you. It’s
easier than you think.
Did you know that 80% of the things you get done are accomplished in
20% of the time you spend working? So what are you doing the other 80%
of the time? I don't know, but here is what you should be doing:
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Focus on your priorities.
Let the little things slide. Every time you do something unimportant,
you are ignoring something that’s really important.
-
Be proactive not reactive.
You have enough time to accomplish what you want to do, if you set
goals and manage your time.
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Plan your day. If you
have no objectives for your day, you will accomplish very little.
Plans guide you through the days distractions and keep you on course.
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Schedule your tasks.
A ‘To Do’ list is not a commitment to do anything, just
a list of tasks that you need to complete. A task will not become
a priority and you will not be committed to completing it, until you
schedule time in your planner to actually do it.
-
Schedule appropriate tasks to the time
you have allotted. Use smaller chunks of time to take
care of short, easily completed tasks like returning telephone calls,
opening the mail, filing, checking e-mail, etc. Use larger chunks
of time for important action projects so that you can make significant
progress.
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Stop procrastinating.
We procrastinate for one of two reasons. Either we really don't want
to do something or we don't know where to start. Identify why you
are procrastinating and eliminate the cause.
-
Stop being a perfectionist.
Be careful not to spend inordinate amounts of time on tasks that do
not require it.
Remember, where you will be in three to five years from now depends
on what you are doing today, tomorrow and next week. We make conscious
and unconscious decisions about how we spend our time. I challenge you
to make the right decisions and to make each hour count!
Employment
Law |
| Redundancy pay increase
From 1 February 2009 the statutory payment for
maximum weeks pay has been increased from £330 to £350
per week.
Statutory pay
From 1 April 2009 the rate for statutory maternity, paternity, adoption
pay will increase to £123.06 per week or 90% of average weekly
earnings, whichever is less.
Statutory holiday entitlement increase
Just in case you missed this one, the statutory holiday entitlement
will increase from 24 to 28 days (5.6 weeks) from April 2009. Bank/Public
holidays can be included in this 28 day total.
Flexible working extended
The right to request flexible working is extended to parents of
children up to the age of 16 years from April 2009.
|
News & Comment
Dealing with disagreements at work
On 6 April 2009 the law for handling discipline, grievance and dismissals
will change. The existing three step procedure will be repealed and will
be replaced by a newly revised ACAS code of practice which will make dealing
with disputes in the workplace easier. The Code has been developed with
the principles of flexible and timely resolution in mind. Visit www.acas.org.uk
for more information.
Golden ‘Hellos’
Whitehall has announced plans to pay employers up to £2,500 for
every unemployed person they recruit and train, in a bid to help people
who have been out of work for over six months.
New Apprenticeships
A plan to fund 35,000 new apprenticeships to ease unemployment and improve
competitiveness in the credit crunch has been announced by the government,
at a cost of £140 million.
Surplus to requirements?
Yes, it is official. We are in the midst of a recession. Whilst
this may be good news for some companies, for others it will mean
an evaluation of their overall business and how many staff are needed
to keep the business going. Difficult decisions will have to be
made, which may mean loosing some staff through redundancies.
If you haven’t done so already, develop a strategy and or
a policy for redundancy so it’s there when you need it. You
need to start thinking about how you will handle any large scale,
significant redundancies at least three months before you anticipate
they might need to take effect. Redundancies have their own set
of rules and regulations so it is important that you understand
the law relating to redundancies and review your procedures. Any
redundancy situation must be handled in a fair and equitable manner,
no matter how many posts are redundant.
Think about ways that you can reduce the workforce, without
redundancies. For example
-
Think creatively about how to reduce employment costs, such
as new ways of working and work reorganisation;
-
Take advantage of natural wastage and/or offer voluntary redundancy
terms;.
-
Put back recruitment and review your use of temporary staff;
-
Retrain employees whose skills are no longer in demand and
redeploy employees to other parts of the organisation where
possible;
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Reduce or eliminate overtime working;
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Consider short-time working, temporary lay-offs or sabbaticals;
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Encourage staff to suggest how jobs can be done more efficiently
and costs saved.
If you have to make redundancies or change
working practices, remember to give positive messages focusing on
the opportunities, as well as the challenges ahead. That way, you
will have a workforce ready and committed, with a company that is
business ready for when the market picks up again. |
Do you have a
question or query about any staffing issue in your company? Drop
us an email
and we will do our best to answer it. |
Quote for February…
"People who work sitting down get paid more than people who
work standing up." Ogden
Nash |
